Advocacy groups sue the feds over delay to asess a marijuana rescheduling petition - Polidicks

[quote]A coalition of medical marijuana and drug reform groups filed suit in federal court in Washington, DC, Monday in a bid to force the government to act on a rescheduling petition that has languished at the DEA [b]for nearly nine years.[/b] The lawsuit asks that the government respond to the petition within 60 days. The DEA has had more than enough time to issue a ruling on a marijuana rescheduling petition. The petition argues that marijuana has accepted medical use and should thus be removed from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. [b]Sixteen states and the District of Columbia currently allow for the medicinal use of marijuana, and an ever-increasing mountain of evidence has shown marijuana to be effective in treating a number of diseases and conditions.[/b] The groups filing the lawsuit include the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC), Americans for Safe Access (ASA), Patients Out of Time, NORML, and California NORML. Also included are medical marijuana patients William Britt, Kathy Jordan, Michael Krawitz, and Rick Steeb. "The federal government's strategy has been delay, delay, delay," said Joe Elford, chief counsel of ASA and lead counsel on the writ. "It is far past time for the government to answer our rescheduling petition, but unfortunately we've been forced to go to court in order to get resolution." "Adhering to outdated public policy that ignores science has created a war zone for doctors and their patients who are seeking use cannabis therapeutics," said ASA director Steph Sherer. "It is unacceptable for seriously ill Americans to wait a decade for their government to even respond to their petition for legal access to medicine to relieve their pain and suffering," said California NORML director Dale Gieringer. "The government's unreasonable delay seriously impugns its competence to oversee Americans' health care. The administration should act promptly to address its obsolete and bankrupt policy in accordance with President Obama's pledge to put science above politics." "The Obama administration's refusal to act on this petition is an irresponsible stalling tactic," said Jon Gettman of the CRC. This isn't the first time the DEA has failed to act on a marijuana rescheduling petition. NORML filed a petition in 1972. [b]That time, it took the DEA 22 years to reject it, overruling its own administrative judge's finding that marijuana did have accepted medical use. [/b]Since then, the case for the medicinal use of marijuana has only grown stronger. Forcing the DEA to act on the petition is a win-win for reformers. If the DEA concludes that marijuana does have medicinal value, it must be rescheduled. If the DEA concludes it does not, that finding can then be challenged in the federal courts.[/quote] source: [url]http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2011/may/23/groups_sue_feds_over_marijuana_r[/url]

Fucking outrageous, what are those people getting payed to do? Oh wait ruin lives instead of function as they should (not that they should exist in the first place)

This will be a slow process guys, you can't expect them to legalize it completely like that, maybe in 10, 20 years it will be fully legalized and sold. [editline]26th May 2011[/editline] in america that is

They are not performing their duty of reducing the harm caused by drugs by ignoring any new evidence. Is this ludicrous delay not a clear indication that they are no longer acting in the public interest?

I hope it gets brought to court soon. But I think it should be obvious that it'll be a long time.

Why can't we just legalize it already? As long as alcohol and tobacco are legal, all anti-marijuana laws are stupid and hypocritical. [editline]26th May 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=DrBreen;30068587]This will be a slow process guys, you can't expect them to legalize it completely like that, maybe in 10, 20 years it will be fully legalized and sold. [editline]26th May 2011[/editline] in america that is[/QUOTE] It's already been 10-20 years since studies have proven that it is less dangerous and less addictive than alcohol or tobacco. It's insane that it is still illegal.

[QUOTE=analrapist;30069990]Why can't we just legalize it already? As long as alcohol and tobacco are legal, all anti-marijuana laws are stupid and hypocritical.[/QUOTE] For the most part, special interests. Marijuana is the number one drug people get caught with, and legalization would kill so many jobs. In part, the war on drugs has created a ton of jobs, and these people realize that if the war on drugs or even just the war on marijuana is stopped, that they'll lose their jobs. You have to take into account prisons as a special interest as well, because they are a huge industry. So they'll incite plenty of lies to keep their jobs, some may actually believe the lies, but I can assume the director of the DEA knows full well that marijuana has medicinal use. Many people in the public just aren't willing to accept legalization, mostly because they choose to be ignorant or they trust authority.

I think in the future tobacco might become illegal instead. There are more and more laws created almost constantly to dampen the sales of tobacco, like making the entire package one surgeon general's warning. The image of tobacco is going up [i]in smoke.[/i]